A NPC that I am creating is an assassin and thus, by the criteria of the class, must have joined an assassins’ guild. Hence I have been thinking about what lands and places could support such guilds. My research, some conclusions about the profession, and some organisations (old and new) engaged in the practice follow.
CANON:
-Doctor Van Ritchen asserts that "vampires hold positions as grandmasters of various thieves' and assassins' guilds throughout the lands of mist" (Van Richten's Guide to Vampires, p 91)
-the Ba'al Verzi in Barovia are said to number roughly a handful (Gazetteer I, p 35);
-Nicu Moldonesti (Ari1/Rog6/Asn6), a nosferatu vampire, assumed leadership of the Ba'al Verzi and turned many of its master assassins into nosferatu; with the power of domination of the nosferatu innocents are increasingly being used to safely deal death at a distance (Gazetteer I, p 35);
-Lady Kazandra, leader of the Martira Bay faction of the Kargat and official head of the Kargat is a vampire assassin (Rog5/Asn3) (Gazetteer II, p 147)
-Venrith Chole, leader of the Karg faction of the Kargat, is a ghost, werewolf assassin (Rog6/Asn6 LE) (Gazetteer II, p 36)
-“assassinations can be contracted at Boem camps” (RCS, p 207);
-“Many darklings become rogues or assassins.” (CoD, p. 116);
-The League of Nine in Borca is composed of apothecaries from the domain’s leading families and can be solicited to intervene to ‘right’ a ‘wrong’ (Gazetteer IV Web Extra, p 3-4);
-The Spider (Ancient Assassin) in Matira Bay is a vampire and had probably been hibernating for 200 years (Van Richten's Guide to Vampires, p 90-91);
-An assassin sent by the Gentleman Caller murders Arabela and, at the hands of Isolde, becomes the first of the Abominations (C pg. 40);
-Bane, an outlander mercenary and most likely an assassin, is sent by Strahd against Azalin (FoD, p 16);
-Voan Darl, an assassin, from Darkon is sent against Azalin’s forces by Strahd (I, Strahd, The War Against Azalin, p 261, p 268-289);
-Mordal, an assassin, worked for, betrayed, and was imprisoned by von Kharkov (Forbidden Lore: Oaths of Evil, p 30);
-The Church of the Spider Queen lost the last of its founders as part of a long string of assassinations in the Shadow Rift (Gazetteer 5, p 108);
-Clerics of the Church of the Spider Queen often multiclass into assassin (Gazetteer 5, p 111);
-Lustmorde.is a group of killers united and egged on in their savage passion for murder for murder’s sake by a tenebris known as the Second (or Deeper) Shadow of Death (Gazetteer 108, p 111);
DEMOGRAPHICS:
Now according to the DMG villages (401-900) are only going to harbour, at most, 1 expert and 1 rogue of sufficient level to be assassins. And on average villages would harbour 1 expert of sufficient level to be an assassin.
Small towns (901-2000) are only going to harbour, at most, 1 bard, 3 experts and 1 rogue of sufficient level to be assassins. And on average small towns would harbour 1 expert of sufficient level to be an assassin.
Large towns (2,001-5,000) are only going to harbour, at most, 3 rogues, 3 experts, 1 bard and 1 ranger of sufficient level to be assassins. On average large towns would harbour 1 bard, 1 expert, 1 rogue and 1 ranger of sufficient level to be assassins.
Because of the skill requirements no other classes will have individuals of sufficient level in towns or smaller places.
In Barovia then, with two large towns, although not of Barovian origin, three small towns, and one village there would be, at most, an upper possible limit of 33 assassins consisting of 16 experts, 10 rogues, 5 bards and 2 rangers. And there will be, on average, an upper possible limit of 12 assassins consisting of 6 experts, 2 rogues, 2 bards and 2 rangers. Practically, 1d3 experts, 1d3 rogues, 1d2-1 bards and 1d3-2 rangers would be imaginable, for an average of 4.8 assassins. That squares well enough with a handful of Ba’al Verzi. But it makes for a tiny guild. And assumes, not unreasonably, that Strahd doesn’t keep any assassins on staff, having the Boem of the Vistani to turn to in case of need.
Small cities (5,001-12,000) could, at most, harbour 6 bards, 6 experts, 2 fighters, 2 rangers, 2 rogues and 2 warriors of sufficient level to be assassins. There would be an upper possible limit of 24 assassins. On average small cities would harbour 2 bards, 2 experts, 2 rangers and 2 rogues of sufficient level to be assassins. This would yield a upper limit of 12 possible assassins. Practically, 1d3-2 bards, 1d3-2 experts, 1d4-3 rangers, 1d2 rogues, 1d6-5 fighters and 1d6d-5 warriors would be imaginable, for an average of 2.75 assassins. That is probably below the critical density needed for a guild. Which is to say that most of the largest population centres in Ravenloft, save for places where assassins are over-represented, are too small to have guilds exclusive to themselves.
Large cities (12,001+) would harbour on average 2 adepts, 9 bards, 2 clerics, 9 experts, 3 fighters, 9 rangers, 9 rogues and 3 warriors of sufficient level to be assassins. At the maximum that would be 46 possible assassins. Practically, 1d6-5 adepts, 1d2 bards, 1d6-5 clerics, 1d2-1 experts, 1d4-3 fighters, 1d3-2 rangers, 1d3 rogues, and 1d4-3 warriors, for an average of 5.75 assassins, would be imaginable. That makes for tiny guilds in Lekar, Il-Aluk, Pont-au-Museau and Kantora.
SOME CONCLUSIONS:
-in light of the skill and dispositional requirements rogues form the backbone of the profession; experts (with class skills in knowledge and languages (diplomats, merchants), animal handling and riding (body guards, bandits, bounty hunters, merchants), survival (bandits, bounty hunters, merchants), concentration, healing, and/or spell craft) also have a not unimportant place, followed by bards, then rangers;
-adepts, clerics, fighters and warriors are, at best, infrequent members of the profession;
-aristocrats, barbarians, sorcerers and wizards of sufficient level, except in the case of multiclassing, are too rare to be found (save for exceptionally) in the profession;
-the deepest, most diversified and most exceptional assassin talent pool, that in the former Il-Aluk, died with, but was preserved in unlife by, the Requiem; if Death has anything going for it, it’s demographics;
-assassins’ guild numbers could be increased by 25% to 150% by stipulating that members include those in training who have not yet qualified for the class;
-a domain without at least two small cities is unlikely to have any guild proper to itself (historical reasons justify the Barovian exception);
-a domain with two or more small cities but no large city is likely to have one or more guilds that straddle all places in the domain; many cities and large distances between them favour two or more straddling guilds;
-a domain with a large city may have a guild proper to itself, but this guild is likely to straddle, or at least attempt to straddle, all places in the domain and in any immediately surrounding domains lacking a guild;
-no assassins’ guild is going to be sufficiently large and powerful to have an official existence unless it is integrated into some larger government sanctioned institution (chiefly the military, perhaps the intelligence services, and maybe the not so secret police);
-guilds probably lack the resources for anything so substantial as a guild house and most especially the means to properly defend it; boltholes and safe houses are far more probable;
-inter-guild warfare should be extremely rare as there are simply not the numbers to waste on it;
-attrition, the authorities, freelancers, and organisations murdering for non-lucrative ends should be the chief challenges facing most guilds;
-non-lucrative motives bringing individuals together to murderous ends - and possibly draining in the process the talent pool of potential and full-fledged assassins - include statecraft, politics, ideology, religion and race;
-guilds worthy of the name should be exceedingly cautious entities, obsessed with secrecy and security, outliving rival upstarts chiefly by a ruthless attention to detail;
-a guild member will ideally have contact only with his/her masked superior and his/her subordinates in his/her branch of the guild; he/she should know little or nothing of the existence of others of his/her own rank, their superiors, their subordinates and their branches in the guild; the knowledge locked away in the grandmaster’s head should alone be able to bring down in its entirety a properly organised guild.
ORGANISATION ENGAGED IN ASSASSINATIONS:
-Ba’al Verzi, guild based in Barovia, members are ethnic Baloks and most are also nosferatu vampires, 5 full-fledged members at present, led by Nicu Moldonesti (nosferatu vampire Ari1/Rog6/Asn6 CE), historically the most infamous, feared and secretive assassins in the Land of the Mists, and this despite rarely striking outside of Barovia, Borca or Invidia, the contemporary reputation is owed in part to other guilds sometimes fabricating evidence against them to mislead investigators;
-Red Vardo Traders, organisation based in Krezk and willing to operate (for a price) throughout the Land of the Mists, members tend to be ethnic Baloks, led by Jacqueline Montarri (Rog8 or varies with head NE), 1 assassin is on staff and Montarri keeps at least one assassin’s head that she can don, the organisation will not turn away a customer ready to pay an exorbitant price for someone’s murder but will offer the victim the chance to meet that price;
-The Gundarakite rebels, resistance movement based in eastern Invidia and western Barovia, members are ethnic Gundarakites, they include 2 aged assassins from the old regime coaxed out of retirement to train a new generation, nominally commanded by Ardonk Szerieza (Com2/Ftr4/Rog4 N), secretive and cellular organisation that is happy to contemplate the murder of any Barovian whose death would materially, strategically or symbolically advance their cause;
-Nachte Naakter, little known guild within the Land of the Mists, members are Vistani of the Corvana tribe, the number of full-fledged members is unknown, although anyone successfully seeking out the Corvana with assassination as the purpose will find a member to contract with, the guild is a loose fraternity with no leader and no purpose beyond keeping the art that it practices alive among the Corvana, among the knowing few it is said that no Corvana assassin, having escaped the scene of the crime, has ever been caught;
-Kargat, secret police and intelligence service of Darkon numbering 200 members, up to half of who may be stationed abroad, 20 mid- and high-level members, mostly lycanthropes and undead, are assassins, Martira Bay faction and overall organisation led by Lady Kazandra (vampire Rog5/Asn3 LE), Karg faction led by Venrith Chole (ghost werewolf Rog6/Asn6 LE), and Corvia faction, which is gradually crumbling into disarray, led by the paranoid Beryl Silvertresss (vampire Ftr5/Ari5 NE), secretive and cellular organisation that never engages in contracted assassinations in its own name but from time to time may create fronts that do, accepting only those contracts consistent with the will of one or more of its leaders and not inconsistent with the commands of Azalin Rex;
-The Ministry of Intelligence (Falkovnia), based in Lekar and operating in the nations immediately surrounding Falkovnia and also in Invidia too, members are ethnic Falkovnians, the number of trained assassins is 7 at present with at least one on loan to Invidia at any time, directed by the Minister of Intelligence Falkfuhrer Calons Weir (LE), anyone so foolish as to approach the ministry to contract an assassination ends up, at best, impaled upon a stake;
-Lustmorde, a highly secretive, loosely associated fraternity of sadistic murderers with Morfenzi lying at the centre of their Falkovnian wide activity, members are ethnic Falkovnians, 3 are trained assassins and 1 still holds his position as an assassin employed by the Ministry of Intelligence, initiation is by a tenebris identifying itself as the Second (or Deeper) Shadow of Death;
-The (Night) Talons, highly secretive guild based in Lekar, members are liberated calibans and demihumans, 6 full-fledged members at present, led by the anonymous No One (elf Rng2/Rog3/Asn5/Shd4 NE), members delight in taking Falkovnian coin to take Falkovnian lives, they can be counted on to not betray the efforts of others to liberate their kin but little more, they do not seek the assassination of the Kingfuhrer as they believe that his replacement would be no less bigoted and all the more dangerous to them;
-Le coeur empalé, secretive guild based in Pont-au-Museau and operating in Richemulot and Dementlieu members are human female entertainers inflicted with lycanthropy by Jacqueline Renier herself, 6 full-fledged members at present, led by Elena Lafontaine (Brd6/Asn5 NE), they will contract for the life of any male, or for twice the price female, but only with the permission of the lord of Richemulot when the individual is of consequence.
-Les frères de mort, highly secretive guild based in Richemulot, members are freelance assassins who met untimely ends, were reanimated as constructs by Azalin in “an act of kindness” with an eye to eventually using them to penetrate the Death Shroud, and were subtly pushed together in Pont-au-Meseau that they might be tested, they number 6 currently, guided and brought back from destruction as need be by Ladislas Sintesti (construct Nec12 CE), they are equally willing to kill man, beast and man-beast, but are very conscious, indeed paranoid, about unwittingly creating patterns that might establish their existence and lead to their permanent destruction.
-Vexjensi, gang often based in La maison des sages, although equally at home in the environs of Aerie or Sturben and sometimes sheltering at the La Sanctuaire de la Dame Oublié, it operates in Richemulot, southern Falkovnia, and north west and north central Borca, members are Richemuloise, Falkovnian or Borcan, 2 are assassins, led by the Black (darkling (Corvana tribe)Rog5/Rng4/Asn3 CE), will gladly accept to perform any crime whatsoever for a not unreasonable price, but woe to anyone who attempts, or is perceived to attempt, a doublecross.
-The League of Nine, elusive and mysterious guild based in Borca, members are in fact apothecaries from leading families, they are 9 in number, led by Lorzen Olszanik (Rog5/CPo3/Asn3 NE), the guild may be appealed to right wrongs, which it does according to the advancement of its own pretensions to importance and power and in return for which it issues a bill;
-The Gelders, well known guild based in Nova Vaasa but willing to strike into Hazlan and Tepest, members are ethnic Vaasi, the number of full-fledged members is 6, openly led by Marguerite Vistins (Ari1/Rng6/Asn6 LE), the guild is a self-appointed guardian of Nova Vaasan interests, believed to enjoy the favour of Prince Othmar Bolshnik, widely known for maiming before murdering those involved in exporting from Nova Vaasa ungelded horses or the training techniques necessary to develop their full potential, but will accept any contract not prejudicial to the economy, culture, religion and state of Nova Vaasa, Malken has a well placed spy within the organisation and manipulates it as necessary;
-Afrbrand, secretive guild based in Toyalis, members are ethnic Mulans, 4 full-fledged members at present, led by Preben Valsisk (Mnk6/Asn3 LE), a guild born from the recent wreck of its predecessor and sworn to put the Rashemani back in their place and, in particular, to kill Eleni of Toyalis, it will enter into contracts on the lives of non-Mulan, most gladly those of Rashemani and of Mulans fraternising with Rashemani, the Iron Inquisition maintains a tenuous and deniable influence upon it as a tool for shaping secular events;
-Garras, highly secretive guild within the Lands of the Mists, members are Paka, the number of full-fledged members is but a handful at most, the guild is a loose fraternity with no leader, it rarely engages in contracted assassinations, existing rather to keep the assassin’s art alive among the Paka as a powerful instrument of vengeance;
-Lee-due anvo, guild based in the Shadow Rift and an open secret there, members are 3 powries, 1 sith and 1 teg, led by the powrie leader Malinda (Asn 8 CE), all members command at least one changeling, the guild rarely engages in contracted assassinations, existing for the pleasure of its members, to enforce the will of the Unseelie Court, and to ensure the safety of the Arak generally.
Code: Select all
EXPECTED AVERAGE NUMBER OF ASSASSINS BY DOMAIN & ACTIVE ORGANISATIONS:
Large Small Large Small Assassins Active Organisation
Cities Cities Towns Towns
1,2001- 5,001- 2,001- 901-
6 3 1 1/4
Barovia 0 0 2 3
3 Ba’al Verzi
Gundarakite Rebels
Kargat
Borca 0 2 1 3
8 League of Nine
Vexjensi
Ministry of Intelligence
(Falkovnia)
Kargat
Darkon 0 5 4 4
20 Kargat
Ministry of Intelligence
(Falkovnia)
Dementlieu 0 1 0 1
3 Le coeur empalé
Ministry of Intelligence
(Falkovnia)
Kargat
Falkovnia 1 2 2 1
14 Ministry of Intelligence
(Falkovnia)
Lustmorde
The (Night) Talons
Vexjensi
Kargat
G’Henna 0 1 0 0
3
Hazlan 0 1 1 0
4 Afrbrand
The Gelders
Invidia 0 0 1 1
1 Gundarakite Rebels
Ministry of Intelligence
(Falkovnia)
Kargat
Kartakass 0 0 1 1
1
Larmordia 0 0 0 0
0
Liffe 0 0 1 0
1
Mordent 0 0 1 0
1
Nidala 1 0 0 0
6
Nova Vaasa 1 2 2 0
14 The Gelders
Paridon 0 1 0 0
3
Phirazia 0 1 0 0
3
Richemulot 1 2 0 0
15 Le coeur empalé
Les frère de mort
Vexjensi
Ministry of Intelligence
(Falkovnia)
Kargat
Roskushima Taiyoo 0 0 2 1
2
Souragne 0 0 0 1
1
Sithicus 0 0 1 0
1
Shadow Rift 0 0 1 2
2 Lee-due anvo
Sri Raji 0 1 2 0
5
Tepest 0 0 2 0
2 The Gelders
Valachan 0 0 2 1
2
* * *
Vistani Nachte Naakter
Paka Garras
) Instead of guessing at what regions could sustain a conventional fantasy-style assassin's guild, I'd look for organizations that could take advantage of the assassin class's abilities -- whether or not they actually call themselves "assassins" -- and let the NPC have worked for one of those.
